Five days later
"Katara," Korra whispered, poking her head around the door. The elderly woman looked behind to the woman just outside her room.
"Korra," she said, although she wasn't very surprised. "What brings you here?"
"Please, I need to talk to you for a minute," Korra said, coming and sliding the doors shut. It was the same hut that Korra had been recovering in for over two years while she was crippled. She automatically got a sense of dread, as in recent times she'd only come there because of injury. Katara sighed, as if she knew what was about to happen.
"Did you get injured while in the spirit world?" Katara asked. Everyone in the South had heard the news by now. Luckily, there was no one left in her hut as it was seven in the evening and the sky was completely dark.
"No, but I really need to talk to you about something," Korra said. "And I need you to keep me being here a secret. Please."
"I figured you'd come to me sooner or later," Katara said, sitting down in a chair. "Come, take a seat. I had a lot of difficulty controlling bloodbending when I was younger and when the news broke here, I thought it would be best to cancel my classes in case you arrived?"
"Really?!" Korra said, sitting in the chair beside her. "You cancelled all your classes? But won't that draw suspicion to you then?"
"I'm an old lady," she said. "They can think whatever they want, but nobody will question it. Now, how long have you been bloodbending?" Katara knew Korra wasn't there for a friendly visit.
"Well, em… how long?" Korra repeated. She'd expected more difficulty in getting Katara to talk to her. "I've barely ever done it, only three times, and two of them were on accident."
"Tell me the first time then," Katara said gently, and put a reassuring hand on Korra's shoulder. Korra smiled, extremely grateful to have Katara understand her.
"Well, it was when this guy was giving out to me and I was arguing back," Korra said. "And then he made fun of me for having a girlfriend… and I just kinda snapped."
"Girlfriend?" Katara repeated.
"Didn't you know?" Korra asked, then realised she'd never gotten the chance to tell Katara. The old woman didn't bother herself with gossip too much, so it made sense that she wouldn't have known. "I guess I never told you, did I?"
"No," Katara said, "but that's wonderful news regardless! How are you two getting on then? What's her name?"
"It's… complicated," Korra said. "I'll get to that in a bit. But anyway, he was homophobic to me and then I just felt… really angry inside. I wanted to strangle him, and for a split second, I grabbed him with bloodbending unintentionally. I released him as soon as I realised what I was doing, but, I still did it. I don't think he ever mentioned it to anyone ever again because it hasn't come back to haunt me yet. Maybe he didn't realise it was bloodbending himself."
"I see," Katara said. "That's perfectly understandable, you were probably going through a lot of stress at the time and accidentally let it out on him. Is there anything else you need to tell me? I won't judge you."
"Yeah," Korra said, remembering one major detail that was easy to overlook. "It was during the day. The sun wasn't very strong but, it was definitely out."
Katara gasped at this. She stared at Korra, bewildered. "You bloodbent someone on your first try during the day? That's extraordinary!"
"It was only brief," Korra said, not sure whether to be proud or ashamed at that comment.
"I reckon it must have been the Avatar State, or a blip of its power," Katara said. "That's the only way I could describe it."
"Raava did speak to me, but… it didn't feel like her," Korra said, not able to elaborate any further than that. "Didn't you used to have to calm Aang down when he was angry in the Avatar State before he mastered it?"
"Yes, he always had a soft spot for me," Katara said pensively, thinking about the old days. "But you are in complete control of the Avatar State, aren't you? Or has it been blocked again like before?"
"I can't go into it at the minute, yeah," Korra admitted. "But I have a good enough reason for that. Aang told me himself."
"Aang told you himself?" Katara repeated, surprised. "But I thought that your connection was severed with your past lives."
"Well, apparently with all the increased spiritual energy around, I can talk to them if I go to sentimental locations from their lives," Korra explained.
"Could I talk to him?" she asked, now sitting up straight.
"I'm not sure," Korra said. "He only came to me to warn me because he had a role as my predecessor. I think he wants to rest in peace, though. Sorry."
"Oh," Katara said, dejected, settling back into her seat. "But to warn you about what? Was it about your bloodbending getting out of hand?"
"No," Korra said, and put on a cheesy smile. "It's because I'm pregnant!" Katara blinked, then a huge, genuine smile broke out on her face.
"That's wonderful news!" Katara exclaimed, overjoyed. "I couldn't be happier for you!" She put a hand on Korra's stomach, which was covered by a thick tunic, and left it there for a moment. "He's going to be a bender alright."
"That's great!" Korra agreed, realising she hadn't even thought of that possibility. She would love the baby all the same whether he/she were a bender or nonbender, but now another question popped up in her head. "What type of bender?" She didn't want to ask if it would be a firebender in case that gave away the father. Katara was a lovely woman, but that information was only on a need-to-know basis.
"Hmmm," Katara said, rubbing Korra's stomach. "I can't tell exactly, but I'm not getting any waterbender vibes. I could certainly be wrong though."
"Thanks," Korra said, smiling too. I guess that only leaves one option, then, she thought.
"No problem," Katara answered. "But now that you mention that you're pregnant... I don't mean to be nosey, but what about your girlfriend? Unless you had something organised…?"
Korra's smile faded, finding no way of avoiding the question. "I got drunk one night, and I accidentally got with a guy. I'd take it all back if I could. I never meant to hurt her."
"Korra, having a child is nothing to be ashamed of," Katara reassured her former waterbending student.
"No, it's not that, it's just…" Korra started, and then put her trust in Katara's hands completely. "You probably know all about the second time I did bloodbent. I'm not proud of bloodbending the Triple Threats, but I had no choice. But the third time was about a week ago now."
"Was it bad?" Katara asked gently, smiling all the time.
"So, so, so bad," Korra emphasized, running her hands through her hair. "She found out about me being pregnant when I had hidden it for over two months during the full moon. Long story short, we had a huge fight. She started hitting me, which I deserved, but then… I bloodbent her instinctively."
"That's not your fault," Katara said, trying to comfort her, but Korra didn't accept it.
"She tried to run away, but I stupidly reached out for her again," Korra continued, her voice threatening to crack, "and I accidentally bloodbent her again. It wasn't strong though, and she broke it herself through effort alone, even though she's not a bender."
"Neither of you meant what happened," Katara said, "but you must accept that it has happened and you must move on."
"Yeah," Korra agreed, her voice going back to normal. "I only stopped trying to deny it when Aang told me that if I use the Avatar State while pregnant, that it could kill my baby."
Katara's eyes widened. "Oh dear, that's very serious! Have you used since you've gotten pregnant?" she fretted.
"It's locked itself away," Korra said. "But by sealing the portal back in Republic City, I forced it to come out again. That's when Aang had to step in."
"It's good that you know, anyway," Katara said. "Is there anything else you need to get off your chest?"
"Yes," Korra said, and took a deep breath, before continuing. "I want you to teach me how to bloodbend."
Katara's smile faded, and she was silent for a few moments before she spoke again. "Korra, I understand your struggles, but absolutely not." This took Korra completely by surprise. Sure, Katara had always been strongly opposed to letting Korra learn the darker side of waterbending, but this was different.
"What do you mean?" Korra asked. "I need someone to teach me how to control it, and you're the only legitimate teacher I can find and trust."
"Korra, your mood swings will pass after you give birth," Katara said. She sighed, about to tell Korra something she didn't like sharing. In fact, she had only ever told Sokka. "I will admit that when I was pregnant with Bumi and Kya, I sometimes couldn't control myself and would bloodbend Aang involuntarily."
Korra held in a gasp. It would be hypocritical for her to be damning someone for what she was looking for help with at that very moment. But she'd always assumed that Katara had never bloodbent anyone apart from medical operations (like guiding poison or a shard of glass out of a patient's body in a life or death situation). But that meant she had just been given even more a reason to follow through on getting taught it.
"What about Tenzin?" Korra asked first.
"I learnt to hold it in by Tenzin," Katara explained.
"I don't plan on waiting to find out by myself how to hold it in," Korra said, determined to get her way.
"You're pregnant, I won't let you bend anyway," Katara said. "It's much too dangerous."
"Why are you being so stingy about it," Korra pressed. "I know that it's not a nice side of bending, but I need you to be practical here! I've already got myself into enough trouble with it."
"Because I won't make the same mistake again!" Katara said abruptly, raising her voice slightly.
"The… same mistake?" Korra said, and Katara realised that she had said too much. She looked at the far wall to try and avoid eye contact, but it was too late. "You've taught someone before? Who? When?"
Katara didn't say anything, but Korra wasn't going to let up now. "WHO, Katara?" Korra demanded.
"I've said too much," Katara muttered, and tried to get up to leave, but Korra stood up as well and blocked her path. "Korra, I'm not feeling-"
"You're lying," Korra said. "I know you are, with whatever you're about to say."
Katara looked around for anything that might excuse her, but found nothing. After a few moments, she sighed reluctantly, giving in. "Come to the dummy here." Katara walked over slowly to the healing bath, which had a typical see-through medical dummy in it, with all the organs visible, and sat down in front of it.
"How is the dummy going to help me get better at bloodbending?" Korra asked, sitting down beside her. "I completed your healing course when I was twelve."
"There's so much to be careful about when bloodbending someone if it is to be used to benefit others," Katara said. "When most bloodbenders, like Yakone used to, for example, they just grab hold of all the blood and keep it all in the same place at once. It is excruciatingly painful, as you would know. But as one man said to me, there's always a positive side to every side of bending. Lavabending is very good at sealing rocks together if used correctly, and can prevent rockslides."
"Then why are you trying to hold me back? You know I don't mean anything bad with it," Korra interrupted.
"Sometimes, your emotions can and have gotten the better of you and you've used it wrongly, like with your girlfriend," Katara said with no restraint. Korra zipped her mouth shut and nulled any emotion coming up.
"I had one student who could've removed the poison entirely from your system who wasn't a metalbender. He was a bloodbender, and stronger than me at my peak."
"Who?" Korra asked, perking up. "Can he teach me?"
"No," Katara stated, and then inhaled deeply. "This something I've been holding in for much too long, and up until now I thought I would go to my grave with it. But you dealt with the consequences while I sat back and stayed quiet."
"What?" Korra said. "I'm sure it's not too bad, whatever it is."
"It's worse than you can imagine," Katara said, her eyes reflecting in the crystal-clear water. A thousand regrets and mistakes stared at her back.
"I taught Amon how to permanently remove someone's bending."
"WHAT?!" Korra asked. "YOU DID WHAT? How?"
"It all started roughly twenty years ago," Katara said. "A very young man from the Northern Water Tribe emigrated to the South, named Noatok. He was a strong, righteous boy, and he always believed in helping all those around him."
"NOATOK?" Korra repeated. "But- but, why? Why would you ever teach anyone that ability ever? And how did you even ever learn it?"
"Let me finish my story first, and then I'll accept whatever you have to say about me," Katara pleaded. She seemed suddenly very frail, and very remorseful. Korra relented a little bit, and closed her mouth. Katara continued;
"He was the youngest in my class, but easily stood out as a master the moment he set foot in my lessons. He picked up healing in a few days, but stopped and guided others who needed it. He could've ploughed on ahead, but believed that he couldn't just race on ahead without those who needed help. It was strange, but he was quiet and determined to follow through with his ideas.
"He had arrived not too long after Aang had died, and I was still very down. But as I taught him, he was so much like Aang was when he was just a young boy out of the iceberg, except Noatok never backed away from the harsh realities of life. He showed me that I couldn't stay down with the fact that Aang was gone, and it helped me put my grief to bed for good."
"But Aang defeated the Fire Lord during Sozin's comet, didn't he?" Korra interjected. "How brave do you have to be to do that?"
"That's true but, Aang had always tried to find another way before violence," Katara told Korra. "Not Noatok. Noatok would fight anyone and beat them if he was challenged. I never once saw anyone land a serious shot on him. He danced around attacks just like an airbender, and I felt like he was my own son, almost. Then, one fateful night, he outdid me as a healer."
"Hardly!" Korra argued. "You're the best healer in the world! How could someone like Amon, and someone so much younger than you, become better so quickly?"
"When the Red Lotus tried to kidnap you as a child, my brother Sokka, Zuko, your father and Tenzin faced them. Sokka and Zaheer fought each other, and Sokka managed to scar and defeat Zaheer in a one-on-one fight." Korra's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Zaheer, but she kept quiet. "But it wasn't so cut-and-dry. Sokka was fatally poisoned by Zaheer. I was helpless to save my brother and I was given a final few minutes to spend with him. I was miserable. I had only lost Aang a few years before that, and now Sokka was leaving me as well."
"I never knew that's how he died," Korra said, her lips pursed. "I'm so sorry."
"I'm not done yet," Katara informed Korra. "Noatok barged into the room and insisted that he could help. I was furious at him for intruding, but there was no harm in letting him try, so I let him have a shot. Noatok redirected the flow of blood out of Sokka's body and extracted all the poison, despite there being no full moon. Sokka was forced to retire from all active duty and bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. But he was alive, and it was a good standard of living! I was able to spend another seven years with him." Katara's eyes started to tear up.
"I never thought Amon could be so…" Korra started, unable to find any words. It was a complete shock to her. She'd always imagined Amon in a purely evil context given her experiences with him, even when she had learnt of his story from Tarrlok. "…compassionate."
"The man who saved my brother was not the same man who hid behind the mask," Katara told Korra. "After that night, I trusted him just as well as Sokka, Suki, Toph or Zuko. But that was ultimately what caused us to fall out."
"How did you learn to take someone's bending away though?" Korra blurted out, absorbing every word. "And why would you ever teach someone that?!"
"I'm getting to that," Katara said, her clothes now feeling heavier than before somehow. "I have to go back to when Bumi was only small, and Kya wasn't born yet. Aang and I were attacked on Air Temple Island by a mad rogue Fire Nation general who had lost all of his power when the war ended. It was nearly twenty years after the war had ended, so we never expected it. He tried to kill us in our sleep."
"That's horrible!" Korra gasped.
"Yes," Katara agreed. "But he was no match for Aang, and was defeated in no time. Aang took it very personally, and removed his bending as a warning to all. But this was the first time I ever saw Aang remove someone's bending, and I felt a searing pressure with the blood around the firebender's chi points. I felt like kneeling under the pressure even though he was doing it to someone else. After that night, I kept on thinking about it, and I think I understood part of the process, although I never told Aang.
"What Aang did was create such friction in between the person's circulatory system that the chi points, that they were sealed shut for the rest of their life. I said this to Noatok one day when we were having trouble holding down a firebender when we couldn't do anything to numb his bending as our usual drugs weren't working. Noatok, being the brilliant mind he was, slowly elaborated on it over the next few years. I never once knew about how strong a bloodbender he was until the night his progress went too far. Up until then, I thought he was just able to do a tiny bit of bloodbending."
"Did you fight?" Korra asked.
"Yes," Katara answered. "There was a man named Tso'kon, who extorted nonbenders in the South back about nine years ago now. Noatok was angry about this, but got himself into trouble when he had a row with the Chief of the Southern Force. They weren't even acquainted, but Noatok demanded that the police track him down right up in their faces. The Chief danced around the question, and Noatok accused him of not caring for the nonbenders because he was a privileged waterbender."
"That sounds more like Amon," Korra said.
"Yes, this was the foundation of the Equalist Movement," Katara explained. "He destroyed the police headquarters, and injured several officers. They didn't land a single scratch on him.
"Noatok disappeared for a few weeks, and then the word that Tso'kon had been beaten up pretty badly spread like wildfire, so much so that he ran to the Earth Kingdom with his tail in between his legs. Rumour was that it was Noatok who did it, but I didn't find out how Tso'kon was defeated until Noatok came to me."
"I thought he had started the Equalist Movement by that point though," Korra came in.
"Not at that very moment and time, but the foundations were put in place, as I said a minute ago," Katara went on. "He came to me one night and claimed that he'd taken away Tso'kon's waterbending. I said that he wasn't nearly powerful enough to do such a thing, and he told me that he could bloodbend someone's full body without the full moon. I called him crazy. He said that we could use this power that only the Avatar had possessed previously to bring equality to everyone everywhere. I demanded that he stop talking nonsense and to leave the South Pole at once before he was caught. We fought, but he easily overpowered me at my old age."
"But he didn't take your bending away," Korra said. "Unless he didn't do it properly?"
"No," Katara answered. "He walked up to me while I was still under his control and asked me to join him. He genuinely believed I would help him, but he was badly mistaken. I summoned whatever strength I had left and broke out of his hold. Then, I grabbed his shoulder and violently sealed off all the chi flowing through it. I disabled his waterbending with his left arm, for good."
"Now that I think of it, he always used his right thumb to touch someone's forehead," Korra said after a moment of thinking back to her few memories of the man behind the mask.
"I never saw it in person, but his left hand was and will be essentially a nonbender's for the rest of his life," Katara claimed. "The damage is irreversible even with the best hundred healers in the world, apart from yourself. He ran from me, wounded in his eyes. I passed out from the exertion, so I couldn't follow him.
"If you knew who Amon was, and what he was, why didn't you tell anyone?" Korra questioned, almost interrogating her former waterbending teacher. "You could've stopped the whole problem at the root!"
"Firstly, I was too afraid to admit it," Katara confessed, "but also, it would have been a very far fetched claim, and I wouldn't have had any proof other than my own word. Then, when he got exposed, I didn't want to push you away." Katara started to cry, and Korra, despite how forceful she'd been just a few minutes ago, pulled the old lady in tightly. She knew what it was like to be the public's scapegoat all too well.
"It's okay," she reassured Katara. "I know you only meant well." Katara looked up and smiled at Korra, then wiped her tears away and sat up.
"Korra, I need you to understand that it is a burden more than anything most of the time," Katara said after a minute. "I don't want a repeat of what happened all those years ago. Noatok had a good will and looked out for the weak when he didn't need to, but power corrupts, Korra, and it corrupted him deeply."
"I'm not Amon," Korra said. "And I'm the Avatar, I'm the most powerful bender in the world! I need you to teach me."
"I'm sorry, but no." Korra let go of Katara and stood up.
"You will!"
Katara looked sadly at the woman talking down to her. Maybe it's just a mood swing from being pregnant, she tried to reason, although she didn't believe it herself.
"Please Korra," Katara tried. "You took down Amon without bloodbending. You don't need it."
"It's my duty as the Avatar to master all four elements, and bloodbending is a part of waterbending!" Korra argued. She bore holes through Katara's head with her eyes.
"You won't be able to do any bending until you've given birth," Katara said. "And you'll have to learn about every organ and blood vessel there is to know. It is way too stressful for a pregnant woman."
"You can't change my mind," Korra declared, and after an icy silence, Katara relented with a heavy sigh, not having the energy to bicker with the young woman.
"Fine," she said, and Korra's eyes lit up. "But there is one non-negotiable condition."
"What is it?" Korra asked warily, ready for any traps.
"I will never teach you how to remove a person's bending. Ever."
"That's fine!" Korra agreed. Katara was disappointed and also a tiny bit relieved at how quickly Korra had agreed with her condition. On one hand, she wouldn't be forcing her into teaching Korra, who could be hot-headed, how to remove a person's bending. On the other hand, Katara had been forced into a corner.
"Just so you know, there's no shame in quitting. At any time," Katara offered.
"I'll keep that in mind," Korra replied. "So can we start now?
"No," Katara said. "Tomorrow. And you can only come on a Wednesday evening from now on."
"Once a week?" Korra said, exasperated. "That's nothing!"
"It's plenty!" she snapped. "And you're lucky to be here, you're in no situation to be asking favours!"
"Fine," Korra said, pouting. She walked over to the door she had come through and slid it open. "See you tomorrow," she called enthusiastically, as if the atmosphere hadn't been extremely hostile a few moments ago, and walked out. As she shut the door behind her, Katara closed her eyes.
"Forgive me," she whispered, even though there was no one else in the room.
I am very nearly finished writing the whole fanfiction. If everything goes to schedule, which it should, then I'll be uploading 2-3 chapters everyday by next Saturday at the latest. Not every week, every day! It will be roughly around 220k words. Thanks again for all the love!